In Modern, Golgari Grave-Troll has been banned again alongside Gitaxian Probe. I wasn’t surprised by the removal of Grave-Troll from the format as it made dredge both too consistent and explosive. I would argue that Prized Amalgam would have been a better choice because by taking away Grave-Troll, the deck now has fewer opportunities to kill you using the order of threats within their deck, as opposed to making the deck’s threats less potent. Resulting in a deck that can be just as powerful, but more random.
Gitaxian Probe was the much less expected though understandable ban of the two. The third phyrexian mana card on the modern banlist, this banning is just more evidence that phyrexian mana itself is a broken mechanic.
What Should you do if you played these cards?
(The answer is not to quit modern)
For Dredge players- Your deck is still playable simply by substituting Grave-Troll for Golgari Thug. The banning of Grave-Troll may also lead to opponents packing less graveyard hate–resulting in a better matchup postboard.
Infect Players- Your best option is to now run one or two fewer copies or Become Immense as a result of having fewer cards in your graveyard without a “free” spell to add to the card count. For now, running more pump spells in the places of those copies of Gitaxian Probe and Become Immense is probably the safest change to make to your deck.
U/R Thing in the Ice/Izzet Blitz Players- Your decks will now be forced to either play more slowly or play more phyrexian mana spells such as Gutshot and Mutagenic Growth, making them either less explosive or more volatile strategies. This change is your choice to make.
Death’s Shadow Aggro- Similar to the suggestion for the previous deck, you will either have to decide to play more hand disruption spells to replace the information granted by Gitaxian Probe or even more phyrexian mana spells to lower your life total just as quickly as before. This choice is dependent upon how all in you’d like to go on your Death’s Shadow. With the printing of Fatal Push in Aether Revolt, I’d suggest trying more hand disruption to protect your threats.
U/R Delver- I would simply play another cantrip in the place of Gitaxian Probe, as the card was not largely important to your strategy. Sleight of Hand and Peek are solid alternatives, and Faithless Looting may also be an interesting card to consider running.
Grixis Delver- Unlike U/R Delver, your deck was more reliant on Gitaxian Probe in order play a Tasigur or Gurmag Angler on turns 2 or 3. Your deck will have an additional spell to play around with soon, because of Fatal Push. The printings of Fatal Push and Yahenni’s Expertise alongside the banning of Gitaxian Probe will most likely incentivise Grixis Delver players to trade in their Delvers of Secrets and Gitaxian Probes for playsets of Cryptic Command and Ancestral Vision, as Grixis Control now seems much more appealing and powerful than before. Grixis Control also benefits from the weakening of dredge. If you choose to continue to play Delver, Mutagenic Growth is an interesting consideration for protecting your Delvers of Secrets from Lightning Bolt and other burn spells while also being a combat trick that can fill the graveyard for “free”.
Other decks that will suffer from Probe’s banning are Storm and Jeskai Ascendancy Decks. If either deck ever had a chance at being Tier 1, what little chance they had is now gone.
In summary, Most Modern players’ decks will continue to be viable. If you played Probe in the past, you may also want to consider increasing the number of lands you play since you’ll be without a 0 mana cantrip to smooth out your draws. Have fun exploring the changes to the format.